ProcessMind Launches Process Simulation for Digital Twins

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

ProcessMind has launched a process simulation engine to build digital twins of business processes. Use operational data to model how your process works, then test what-if scenarios before making changes.

What do we mean by a digital twin?

Here, a digital twin is a digital model of a business process, not a 3D model or a twin of physical assets. ProcessMind uses process data to help you see how work flows and explore how proposed changes could affect performance.

A process digital twin lets you test scenarios against a model before changing the real process. To learn how the broader concept applies to organizations, read what a digital twin of an organization is.

How does the simulation engine work?

The engine extracts parameters from uploaded event logs, including case arrival rates, activity durations, and resource requirements. Use these parameters to configure a process model and run scenario analyses.

ProcessMind uses discrete event simulation (DES), where the system state changes at specific events. This method suits business processes with activities that have defined start and end times, resources assigned at specific moments, and cases that follow distinct paths.

Process improvement has always involved guesswork: you make a change and hope it works. With digital twins, you can test ten scenarios in an afternoon and choose the one most likely to succeed.

Christiaan Esmeijer, Founder of ProcessMind

What can you test?

Use the simulation engine to explore questions such as:

• What happens if you reallocate resources?
• How might a process redesign affect performance?
• How much capacity might you need if volumes change?
• How do different automation scenarios compare?
• What could happen if you implement a proposed solution?

The simulation runs virtual process instances using timing distributions, resource capacities, and arrival patterns derived from the source data. It predicts cycle time, throughput, waiting time and queue length.

What can you configure?

Adjust scenario variables and compare multiple scenarios side by side. The engine also supports resource capacity analysis and bottleneck identification across different volume scenarios.

The engine supports normal, exponential, uniform, triangular, and log-normal probability distributions. Configure activities with processing times, resource requirements, and skip probabilities.

How does simulation fit with process mining?

The simulation engine works with ProcessMind’s existing process mining and BPMN modeling capabilities. The intended workflow is to discover a process from event data, build a process digital twin using extracted parameters, and simulate proposed changes.

The simulation engine extracts parameters directly from event logs, reducing the manual setup typically needed for process simulation.

Christiaan Esmeijer, Founder of ProcessMind

What does the launch mean for your process work?

Process mining shows how work happens in practice. Simulation lets you explore possible changes using a model informed by operational data. Compare scenarios before deciding what to implement; simulation does not change your process.

The platform is hosted in EU data centers and is GDPR-compliant.

Read what a digital twin of an organization is

See process simulation at /platform/process-simulation.